.\" Copyright (c) 1980 Regents of the University of California.
.\" All rights reserved.  The Berkeley software License Agreement
.\" specifies the terms and conditions for redistribution.
.\"
.\"	@(#)biff.1	6.1 (Berkeley) 4/29/85
.\"
.TH BIFF 1 "April 29, 1985"
.UC 4
.SH NAME
biff \- be notified if mail arrives and who it is from
.SH SYNOPSIS
.B biff
[
.B yn
]
.SH DESCRIPTION
.I Biff
informs the system whether you want to be notified when mail arrives
during the current terminal session.
The command
.IP
.B "biff y"
.LP
enables notification; the command
.IP
.B "biff n"
.LP
disables it.
When mail notification is enabled, the header and first few lines of
the message will be printed on your screen whenever mail arrives.
A ``biff y'' command is often included in the file
.I \&.login
or
.I \&.profile
to be executed at each login.
.PP
.I Biff
operates asynchronously.
For synchronous notification use the MAIL variable of
.IR sh (1)
or the
.I mail
variable of
.IR csh (1).
.SH SEE ALSO
csh(1),
sh(1),
mail(1),
comsat(8C)
